Summary
The Hybrid marriage of AC kilowatts and Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder horsepower provides a net result of 155 ponies, with CVT shifts. When I first drove the previous Escape Hybrid, I was most impressed with the transitions between gas and electric operation. The Hybrid engineering team has revised the transition software to new levels. How good is it? Let me put it this way; it's the only time in your life that the words 'you won't feel a thing' are actually true.
There's always some weirdness; like Piano Black accents on the front door window switch trim of the top-end Limited, and none for the rear passengers. (Let's hope it's a pre-production oops.) Ice Blue lighting is standard, which should provide less retina-carving during moonlight drives. We're not entirely sure what '100 per cent post-industrial recycled materials' means, except that you're sitting on them with the cloth interior. I hope this isn't where backlane couches go to die. The trick to making a hybrid sip is a combination of minute throttle tips, coasting, and brake inputs for regenerative power supply to the batteries. Translation: drive like you're 85. On Escape Hybrid models with navigation screens, an animated display shows where the 'brid is drawing its power from. A bar graph shows the highs and lows of fuel consumption, in 15-minute intervals. The 4WD version we were using has an EnerGuide rating of 7.3 litres per 100 km for city use, which we nailed on the button. The trinkets and trash went to a team that achieved 7.2l/100 km. Our theory is that the winners stopped at the neighbourhood gas station and topped the tires up to 60 PSI apiece. As for moving the tires in preferred directions, the Escape's new electric power steering is the closest yet to hydraulic weight and feel.See the full content of this document
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Great Escapes
Ford's smallest SUV is on the ball, and hybrid too
By Michael ClarkOTTAWA -- Sorry folks, but you've just run out of excuses to go green.Ford took the wraps off the new Escape here in the nation's capital, where, in the last federal budget, the Conservatives sweetened the hybrid tonic considerably.As a result, moving up from a gasoline-only Escape to the gas-electric hybrid version is a mere $1,000 bump. Which means you only need s...See the full content of this document
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